We’re making changes to our membership offerings, tools, and features. Learn More

Heathrow passengers down in March due to power failure, holiday timing

(Alliance News) - Heathrow airport on Friday reported a 7.5% decline in the number of passengers ...

Alliance News 11 April, 2025 | 10:10AM
Email Form Facebook Twitter LinkedIn RSS

(Alliance News) - Heathrow airport on Friday reported a 7.5% decline in the number of passengers passing through its four terminals in March, after a power outage closed the entire airport for a day and the key Easter travel period fell outside the month this year.

The west London airport said it handled 6.2 million travellers last month, down from 6.7 million in March 2024.

Heathrow attributed the decline to the timing of Ramadan and Easter this year and to a 10-hour closure caused by a power supply failure.

The airport was closed to all flights until about 6 pm on Friday, March 21, after a power outage caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation which started late the previous night. This disrupted more than 270,000 air passenger journeys.

Additionally, Ramadan covered the entire month of March this year, pushing travel to the beginning and end of the holiday period. Meanwhile, Easter falls on April 20 this year versus March 31 last year, meaning travel for school holidays is taking place in April instead of March.

The EU remained by far the most popular destination for passengers travelling through Heathrow, at 2.0 million, while North America was the second most popular at 1.5 million.

More positively, the weight of cargo handled by Heathrow last month was up 0.3% from a year before, including a 4% increase in goods transported in the holds of passenger planes.

Heathrow Chief Executive Thomas Woldbye said: "It's great to see strong demand to travel through Heathrow...We are still on track to see another record year in 2025."

By Tom Waite, Alliance News editor

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Email Form Facebook Twitter LinkedIn RSS

About Author

Alliance News

Alliance News provides Morningstar with continuously updating coverage of news affecting listed companies.

© Copyright 2025 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved.

Terms of Use        Privacy Policy        Modern Slavery Statement        Cookie Settings        Disclosures